‘Said it was available’: Woman waits an hour to charge her car at station. Then she walks away to use the restroom
A Black woman says a white couple knowingly unplugged her electric car. And she says bringing in a police officer to mediate only made things worse.
Electric vehicles have become more popular in recent years as consumers become more environmentally conscious. Also, more affordable models with better battery ranges hit the market. And charging stations became more readily available.
How often an electric vehicle needs to be charged depends on its battery life and how much the driver uses it. Most new electric vehicles can go over 200 miles on one charge. So as long as you don't drive more than 30ish miles a day, you should be fine.
Some people have charging stations installed in their homes for convenience. However, many others still rely on public charging stations, such as those at a mall or gas station.
Charging up an electric car can take an hour, or four to 11 hours. The amount of time it takes depends on your car and the energy level the public charger can provide.
So when you secure a spot at the closest charger around, you want to hold on to it.
A routine car charging escaltes quickly
In a viral TikTok, Tiny (@reality.tiny) explains that she and her fiancé have a daily routine. After she picks him up from work, she says they go charge her electric car.
The car isn't usually in dire need of a charge since she keeps it at around 90 miles until it dies, Tiny says. But Tiny notes she likes to stay on top of it since it seems they don't have access to a charger at home.
When Tiny and her partner got to the charging station, located at a hotel, she says they had to wait about an hour for the sole charger to free up. Once they were plugged in, Tiny and her fiancé entered the hotel to use the restrooms.
Tiny says she got a notification that she was only charged $3 for her charge time.
"'I know they ain't just take the charger out of our car,'" she recalls her fiancé saying, peeping exactly what was happening.
Lo and behold, the car's charger door was open.
Tiny says she spoke with the owner of the other vehicle (a white man who was with a woman) directly. She says she pointed out that he unplugged her car while it was still charging.
First, the man tried to play dumb, saying that the charger showed up as "available," so he took it, she recalls. But Tiny says she had the receipt to prove that when he took the charger, it was still plugged into her car. And therefore it was "unavailable."
Even if it was available, Tiny points out how rude it was to unplug a stranger's vehicle. The man then made money the issue, according to Tiny. She says he made it seem like they were upset over the $3 billed to their account.
It gets worse
Tiny says the woman then approached a nearby police officer to intervene.
As we know from countless cases, involving the police can gravely escalate a situation and be weaponized against Black people.
Tiny notes that when he stepped out of the police car, his hand was already on his gun.
"So I instantly tell my fiancé, because he's a Black young man, 'Calm down because I don't want it to go left,'" Tiny says.
As Tiny explained the situation to the cop, she says she looked to him for validation that he saw them enter the hotel. Instead, she says he shrugged, despite Tiny saying they had made eye contact.
And although they were talking about something pertinent to the exterior of the car, Tiny says the cop was circling the vehicle like he was trying to find something incriminating.
The last strike for Tiny, she says, was the offer accusing them of not having enough money to charge the car.
"I already knew the officer was going to be on some racist stuff anyway because of how he was going about it. You making racist remarks," Tiny says.
At her fiance's request, they ended up leaving, even though they felt it was an unfair outcome, she continues.
In an Instagram direct message, Tiny told the Daily Dot that they ended up going to another charging station.
"I knew after getting profiled there was nothing else could be done," she added.
@reality.tiny The President Minions Are Back Out #fypシ ♬ original sound - Tiny ????
Commenters react
Tiny's video has 28,000 views. Viewers shared their concerns in her comments section.
"It's all ready starting," the top comment read.
"File a complaint against the officer, hotel should have cameras around. Be knowledgeable is all!" a person suggested.
"People do too much talking in these situations. in the future when you find out you can't talk to the officer you ask for a supervisor or you remove yourself from the incident. because it could've gone left real fast," another said.
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